1. Field of the Invention
This invention relates to an image reading apparatus which reads a document automatically fed onto document glass and a method for feeding documents in the image reading apparatus.
2. Description of the Related Art
With an image reading scanner, a digital copying machine or the like provided with an automatic document feeding device, a special document, small in size and great in thickness, such as a business card, cannot be fed by an automatic document feeding device which is for feeding sheets of paper of ordinary paper size. To cope with this, conventionally, an operator must manually set business cards on document glass to read or copy the business cards or a separate scanner dedicated to reading business cards must be used to read business cards.
However, in the former case, it is a time-consuming job to arrange business cards on document glass, and this significantly impairs efficiency. If a scanner dedicated to reading business cards is used as in the latter case, reading accuracy is markedly degraded because such scanners are very low in reading speed and resolution, and further it is required to ensure a space for the dedicated scanner.
Therefore, image reading apparatuses have been demanded to be capable of feeding documents, even if they are special documents, small in size and great in thickness, with ease and efficiency, and reading the images of documents with high resolutions.
An object of the present invention is to make it possible to read special documents, such as business cards, at high speed and with high resolutions and ease, using an image reading apparatus provided with an automatic document feeding device, and to enhance the efficiency of reading special documents and the accuracy of read images.
A further object of the present invention is to make effective use of part of the automatic document feeding device of an image reading apparatus, and thereby save dedicated space which would be otherwise required for reading special documents, such as business cards.
According to the present invention, an image reading apparatus comprising a reading means which reads the images of documents fed into an image reading area, a first document feeding means which feeds a first document into the first image reading area of the reading means, and a second document feeding means which is detachably mounted on the first document feeding means and feeds a second document into the second image reading area of the reading means is provided.
Further, according to the present invention, an image reading apparatus comprising a reading device which reads the images of documents fed into an image reading area, a first document feeding device which feeds a first document into the first image reading area of the reading device, and a second document feeding unit which is detachably mounted on the first document feeding device and feeds a second document into the second image reading area of the reading device is provided.
Further, according to the present invention, a method for feeding documents in the image reading apparatus which method comprises feeding a first document from a first side into the first image reading area of the reading device, and feeding a second document from the side opposite the first side of the reading device into the second image reading area of the reading device is provided.